Spiral cutter



0. G. SIMMQNS Sept. 27, 1927.

SPIRAL CUTTER Filed March 12. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 27,1921. 0 SIMMONS 1,643,474

SPIRAL CUTTER Filed March 12, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 27, 1927.

PATENLoF lcE.

OLIVER G. SIMMONS, OF LAKEWOOD, OHIO.

srmnr. cur'rnn.

ap lication med-larch 12, 1924. Serial in. 698,819.

- The present invention relates to improvements in milling cutters of the type having teeth arranged on a spiral curve which extends around the axis of the cutter and which is designed to generate ribs or teeth of a corresponding curvature upon the surface of a blank.

A cutter of the general character above referred to is disclosed. in my Patent No.;- 1,126,107, granted Jan. 26, 1915, designed particularly for the purpose of generating spiral teeth upon a file. 7

One of the main objects of the present in ventionisto provide a cutter capable of generatintg teeth having sharper cutting edges.

rther object is to provide a cutter which will clear itself more readily during the cutting operation and in which theindividual teeth of the cutter are subjected to less wear so that .the cutter will have a longer lifeand may be operated for a longer 7 period without regrinding.

The above and other advantages are attained as will be hereinafter more fully explained by so forming the teeth of the cutter that alternate teeth on a given spiral row are staggered with respect to intermediate .teeth, this being accomplished by forming an. odd number of teeth in the circumference of the cutter and forming successive teeth on adjacent spires of the curve; In operatlng upon the blank successive teeth circumferentially of the cutter will operate in adjaeent grooves on the blank.

' 3 A further object of the invention is tov provide a cutter in .which the teeth are formed upon a curve such that the cutter.

ma operate simultaneously upon a plurality of lanks. v

With the above andother objects in view the invention maybe said to comprise the structures illustrated in the accompanying drawings hereinafter described and particu larly: set forth in the appended clalms, to-

gether with such variations and modifica-- are diagrammatic views showing in plan and.

side elevation, a cutter such as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 operating upon a file blank: Fig. 7 is a plan view of a modified form of cutter, the teeth of which are arranged upon a diflerent spiral curve and which has eer: tainadvantageous characteristics not possessed by the cutter shown in Figs. 1 to4; Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the cutter shown in Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is an axial section through the cutter shown in Figs. 7 and 8; Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing a curve having the characteristics of the curve upon which the cutter teeth of the cutter shown in Figs. 7 to 9 are generated; Figs. 11 and 12 are diagrammatic views showing in plan and side elevation a cutter such as illustrated in Figs. 7 to 9 operating .upon a plurality of file blanks.

Before describing indetail the structure of the cutter it may be well to explain briefly the principle of operation and to make clear the meaning and scope of certain descriptive terms used in thespecification.

If a plane surface be given a continuous rotary movement about a'given axis and a member having a point contact with the sur- 7 face be given a'continuous movement along a fixed path, i. e. along a straight line or given curve,such that the point in contact with the ,surface gradually approaches or recedes fro'm the axis of rotation, the curve traced by the point upon Tthesurface will be one of the many curves includedin the eneral class known as spirals. If the sur ace be a blank and the member having relative linear and rotative movement with respect thereto be a cutter, the cutter will form a 'groove upon the blank which follows the curve determined by the relative linear and rotative movements. If the groove cut on the blank be of pro er cross sectional-"shape and the resulting ri s be gashed transverse 1y at regular intervals a millingcutter with spirally arranged teeth may be formed and this cutter may be used to generate teeth upon ablank which has a path of movement and a rate of movement corresponding to the linear movement of the cutter by which the cutting teeth of the milling cutter wereoriginally generated. If in generating the spirally arranged teeth upon the milling cutter the rotary and linear movements are both uniform, the spiral curve will have a uniform lead along a line corresponding 'to that upon which the generating cutter was moved. Tithe cutter'be moved-at a uniform rate along a radius of the uniformly rotating blank the curve generated will be the spiral of.iArchimedes which has a constant lead along a radial line. Such a cutter 1s illustrated in Figs. L to 4 and maybe em- "ployed as shown diagrammatically in Figs.

- gitudinally 5 and Gate generate spiral teeth in a file blank, the blank being disposed with its longitudinal axis intersecting the ax s of the cutter and having a uniform longitudinal movement so correlated to the speed of rotation of the cutter that at the center line of the blank; the cutting. teeth have no movement longitudinally oftheblank.

i If in generating the teeth of the milling cutter the tooth generatingcutter be moved over the rotating blank at a uniform rate along a straight-line other than a radial line, the curve generated will be one of a generalclass of spiral curveswhich includes the involutesvof 'circles,all curves of this class being characterized by'the fact that they have a uniform lead along a tangent to the circle in which the curve has its origin. If the lead between spires along the tangent line be equal to the circumference of the circle of origin, in this case the evolute, the curve will be the involute of the circle. As illustrated in Figs. 11 and 12 a cutter such as above described may be employed to generate teeth upon a file blank which is-fed lonto the cutter at a uniform speed, the longitudinal axis of the blank in this case beingdisposed tangent to the circle in which the curve of the cutter teeth has its origin, and the speed of rotation of the cutter and blank being correlated in the same Y teeth ofequal curvature ral manner as the cutter and blank in generat ing the teeth on the milling cutter. By reason of the fact that the cutter teethmay be generated on a curve having its origin in a circle of any desired diameter, this cutter has the advantage that it may operate simultaneously upona plurality of blanks as vcurves which may be employed depending on the character of the work for which the cutter is designed. It should also be understood that the face of the cutter blank upon which the spirally disposed teeth are generated need not be flat. but may be conical 01 concave or convex depending upon the character of work ,for which the cutter is designed. I Referring first to Figs. 1 to 4 and9 and 1 0 of the drawing,

'be formed u blank operated upon,

tlie groove asit passes through. In cutters o the cutter body 1 is formed with a central bore 2 for attachment to a driving spindle and with -a central able roughing cutter is in this instance formed integrally with the cutter body and has a circumferential row of teeth projectcounterbore 3 upon itsouter side; A suit 'i ing sulficiently therefrom to engage the blank disposed generating teeth 5 which surround the roughing cutter, In forming the cutter a raised peripheral portion is provided upon the face thereof and in this raised portion the spirally arranged, teeth 5 are generated in the' rotating blank by a cutter which has acted upon in advance of the spirally a uniform movement along a radius of the blank. The raised portion is divided into an odd number of sections 7 of equal size by" equally spaced transverse grooves or ga shes 8. which may be. disposed radially or at a fixed angle with respect to radial lines. The machine which be provided .with suitable indexing mechanism so that it will be caused nate raised sections 7 of the blank so that in each spire of the curve, cutting teeth will on alternate raised sections of the blank; are an odd number of raised sections in the blank the cutter will, during the second revolution of the blank, make its out in the sec tions skipped during the first revolution.

The teeth may be-formed along as many spires of the curve as'desired and the staggel-ed relationship of the teeth will obtain throughout the length of the spiral row. The teeth 5 are formed with substantially .vertical inner faces 9 and top faces 10 inclined outwardly and rearwardly from the cutting points 11, the teeth being of graduall increasing height from one end of the.

so that the teeth spiral curve to the other will follow through the grooves cut in a each making its out in the spiral type heretofore used the successive teeth of the cutter have been in the same splre of the curve with the result that,

1n the operation of the cutter upon a file.

blank, the cutting edges of the file teeth were cut by the bottom of the angular notch at the base of the teeth; This is .an objectionable feature first, because it is not possible to form a cutter of high speed steel and hold it with a uniformly sharp angle at due to the high harden-h the base of the teeth, ing heats required, and second because the cutting edge at the 'base of such a notch .quickly becomes dulled in operation with teeth of the files will not" haveas sharp an edge as desirable. With a the result that the cutter embodyin the present invention,

however, the cutting edges of the file teeth are formed by the. inner vertical cutting edges of. teeth on an outer spire of the curve generates the teeth will.

to skip 'alterand the outer inclined cutting edges the teeth of the next inner spire which are moving through the adjacent groove on the blank.

This'is illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing in which the inner vertical face 9 of a tooth on the outer spire is shown immediately in front of the outwardly inclined face '10 its longitudinal axis intersecting the axis of the cutter, the cutter is rotated at a uniform speed and the file blank is fed longitudinally to the cutter at a' uniform speed so correlated to speed of rotation of the cutter that the movement ofthe blank is equal to i the lead of the spiral along the axis of the blank. At the edges of the blank there will be a very slight variation from the true .lead of the spiral which will result in a slight widening of the grooves toward the edges but this variation is not suificientto 451 cutter"4:"is formed separately and secure moves.

be objectionable and by properly correlating the size of the cutter to that of the blank, may be made so-slight as not to be noticeable.

In the modification of the cutter shown in Figs. 7 to 9, the spiral cutter is in all respects similar to that above described except as to the spiral curve uponwhich the; teeth of the cutter are generated. In this modification the spirally disposed cutter teeth are generated in amanner similar to that above described except that the gener ating cutter 'is moved at a uniform rate along a straightfline other than a radial line and generates a spiral curve having its ori-I gin in a circle whose' center is at the axis of the blank and which is tangent to the line' along which the generating cutter In view of the fact that this cutter is the same as that previously described except that the teeth are formed upon a dif-. ferent curve .andexcept that the roughing in the counterbore 3, the detailed descrip tion will not be repeated, like parts being designated in the drawing by .the same reference numerals with the addition of the' exponent a. Fig. 10 shows a curve of the class generated by the above method, the curve A having its origin on the circle B and having a uniform lead along a tangentline C.

As shown in Figs. 11 and 12 the cutter last described may be-employed to cut spi-. ral teeth upon a file blank, the longitudinal axis of the blank in this case being disposed on a tangent to the circle in which the curve on which the cutter teeth are disposed has its origin and the rotationof the cutter and longitudinal movement of the blank being so correlated that the longitudinal movementof the blank is equal to the uniform lead of the curve along the axis of the blank. Asshown in Figs. 11 and 12 a plurality of blanks may be operated uponat the same time by a cutter'of this character,- one blank being fed to the cutter along one line tangent to the circle in which the curve has its origin,-and the other being fed to the cutter along a second tangent to the same circle. It may be mentioned that any number of spiral curves having an equal lead may be generated from the same circle of originand that all such curves are parallel. The cutter may have its teeth generated upon a plurality of such parallel spiral curves as may be advantageous in cutting fine teeth upon a an blank and all of the curved rows of teeth will have exactly the same lead 'along a line tangent to their circle of origin. Thus a somewhat better result may be. obtained rows of teeth are formed on spiral curves of other classes such as the Archimedean spirals above referred to.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. A milling cutter having a face disposed transversely to the axis thereof which is provided with circumferentially spaced teeth all lying in the same spiral curve and ar+ ranged in staggered relation, successive teeth circumferentially of the cutter lying e5 in different spires of the curve.

2. A milling cutter having a face disposed transversely to the axis thereof, said face having teeth thereon extending in a row throughout a plurality of adjacent'spires of a spiral curve surrounding the axis of the cutter, the teeth on one .spire being interposed between successive teeth on an adjacent spire.

3. A milling cutter having a face disposed transversely to the axis thereof, said face having teeth thereon lying in a spiral curve and extending through a plurality of spires thereof, said teeth being separated circumferentially by an odd number of equally spaced gashes and disposed in staggered relation with the teeth on one spire of the curve intermediate teeth on an adjacent spire.

4;. A milling. cutter comprising a body portion having on a face-thereof an annular portion in whlch are formed teeth disposed in aspiral row and a roughing cutter fixed to the body portion within said annular portion.

5. A milling cutter having a face disposed transversely to theaxis thereof and circumthan in the case Where a plurality of spiral 5 ferent-ially spaced cutting teeth on said face arranged in a spiral curve, successive teeth being in different spires of the curve and offset radially with respect to' each other, successive teeth having cutting edges which during rotation of the cutter generate surfaces of revolution which intersect intermediate the tops and bottoms of the teeth at an .the cutter.

anglereentrant with respect to the face of ting edgesintersecting a spiral curve surrounding the axis of the cutter and lyingin a plane parallel with the face of the cutter intermediate the tops and bottoms of the teeth, successive teeth being ofiset radially with respect to each other so that points'of intersection of inner-cutting edgeswith said spiral curve alternate with the" points of intersection of outer cutting edges therewith.

7. A milling cutter having spaced teeth aligned 'circumferentially throughout -a series of spires of a spiral curve surrounding the axis of the cutter, the teeth on alternate spires of the curve being aligned radiallyand positioned between successive circum-a spire.

8. A milling cutter having its cutting teeth lying in a spiral curve which has a uniform lead along a line tangent to a circle which has its center at the axis of the cutter,

successive teeth circumferentially of the cutter lying in different spires of the curve and ofiset radially with respect to each other.

Q. The method of makinga milling cutter which comprises forming on the face of a blank, an odd number of gashes which are equi-angularly spaced with respect to a common center .to provide an odd number rot raised portions around said center, and groc ving alternate raised portions of the blank along'a spiral curve surrounding the center of the blank to provide fstaggered teeth. V a

In testimony, whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature.

z p iOLIVER sIMMoNs.

ferentially spaced tegth of the intermediate 

